This year Truck will be celebrating its fourteenth consecutive festival. Since the very beginning in 1998, Truck has been established as Oxford’s best music festival supporting the city’s infamous music scene.
It has supplied the county with the best bands from around the world and this year will prove to be better than ever. The man behind Oxford’s most successful festival is Robin Bennett; local to Oxford, Robin has remained at the heart of Oxford’s thriving music community.
At the tender age of 19 and fresh out of school, Robin undertook the seemingly impossible task of creating Oxford’s finest music event from scratch. Inspiration behind Truck manifested itself from the UK’s then declining festival scene. “I had been to a couple of local and national festivals and found them a bit lacking, and I watched the Woodstock movie and knew I had to create something with a similar ethos”. Speaking with e-festivals.co.uk, Robin explained how Truck was built upon a favour from a local farmer in Steventon. “We asked a local farmer if we could have it in his field on the assumption there would only be 20 to 30 people attending”.
The initial selection process was conducted over a kitchen table in the humble surroundings of Oxfordshire. Robin reminisces how the team initially decided what bands should play the 1 day event. “We wrote letters to them all, and the only band to reply was Granddaddy, they sent a letter back saying, ‘We’d love to play but we’re 3000 miles away”. Due to the difficulty of booking bands from overseas, the focus remained on Oxford’s blossoming music scene. “We’ve had all the local heroes” Truck’s founder is pleased to admit.
As Truck Festival began to make headlines for its unique boutique style, it continued to provide a roster of era defining artists every year. Bands like Ash, Supergrass, Idlewild, Lemonheads, Biffy Clyro and Mercury rev are just a few A-listers that have played under Truck’s prestigious banner. Frank Turner is just one of many big name artists to enjoy Truck’s Festival experience.
Frank Turner Truck Store Interview from Nick Seagrave on Vimeo.
Since the Truck’s first year in 1998, the UK’s festival scene has changed dramatically. Reflecting on the past 14 years Robin has noticed these dramatic changes. “It’s becoming something of a national pastime and if I think back to 1998 it’s so different now. There are 10 times as many festivals at a guess. Although I think we are probably hitting the limit, it’s great that audiences are able to be outside and listen to music. It’s just a shame we don’t have a more stable climate”.
Despite the universal rise in popularity for festivals, Truck unlike many other boutique festivals, has stayed true to itself and its many fans.“Suddenly all of these venture capital companies and huge corporations have invested heavily in summer music events and as a result it has become hugely competitive”. Since his first festival experience at V fest in 1996, founder Robin Bennett has seen the drastic transition the industry has taken. “It used to be just Reading and Glastonbury and that was it. Now it’s a whole season, from the beginning of May until the end of September”.
Although the UK has seen a boom within the live music business, the recent global recession has forced the music industry to pay a heavy price.“Despite the huge influx of money that has gone into music events, a few very amateurish organisations have continued to put on shows for years, fuelled by the love and passion for the industry, just like Truck Festival”.
Every year Truck has continued to develop and evolve. Improvements have been made where necessary and changes have occurred allowing Truck to grow into Oxford’s best music festival. Ten years after its birth, Robin Bennett decided to build upon the festival even further by creating an additional event that aimed to be 100% environmentally friendly. Wood became that festival in 2007, which has become equally successful as Truck. From the very beginning Robin knew what he wanted from a festival like Wood. “We had always wanted to run events all year around and do them in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way”. Truck festival is a family run event and continues to remain that way. “I’d just become a parent, my son had just been born just before Truck. As a parent I wanted somewhere to take my son and run it on environmental values”.
Wood festival quickly become established as one of the most relaxing, family-friendly festivals in the country, and so Truck has once again taken a giant leap and found a firm footing on the other side of the Atlantic. Last year the Bennett family’s brand spanking new festival Truck Americaopened for business in upstate New York. Once again drawing inspiration from the Woodstock movie and the artists such as Bob Dylan and The Band who once took refuge in the Catskill Mountains, Truck America received rave reviews with its latest venture.
“We were suggested a location called Full Moon Resort, which was amazing, up in the mountains just outside of Woodstock”.
With Mercury Rev headlining last year’s festival, Robin is set to return to the Catskill Mountains on September 9th for the second Truck America Festival. On reflection he explains why Truck’s festival ethos is needed in a country as vast as America. “Truck America is a bit like Wood Festival. It’s on the scale of Wood and in a beautiful, natural setting, with the kind of music you would find at Truck Festival. You tend to get big gigs in America, or they’re set in the desert, the archetypal English festival is rare to find in the States.
Since the festival’s very first day, Truck has matured into one of the UK’s most cherished music events. With the introduction of the eco-friendly Wood Festival to the trans-Atlantic Truck America, the Bennett family continue to produce the best festival Oxford has to offer.
This year Truck’s line-up will feature Gruff Rhys, The Electric Soft Parade, The Rock of Travolta, Bellowhead, Graham Coxon, Saint Etienne, Johnny Flynn, The Go! Team, Philip Selway and many many more. For the first time Truck will be a three day event taking place on Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th July at Hill Farm in Steventon.
The full interview with founder Robin Bennett can be found at e-festivals.
